Will Boris's wizard come back from
Oz?

When Boris Johnson introduced the team behind his next London Mayoral campaign there was one conspicuous absentee - the man who will run it.

Lynton Crosby, the blunt-speaking Aussie loudmouth and polling guru, has fallen foul of tough new immigration rules introduced by the Coalition.

It meant that Crosby was unable to enter Britain from Australia, because he did not have the right paperwork. As a result, Crosby was stranded Down Under when Johnson made his keynote speech yesterday at the official launch of his Mayoral campaign.

Hardly the greatest start for the man who revels in the nickname the Wizard of Oz.

Down under: Australian Lynton Crosby, pictured here when he did have the right paperwork to be in the UK, missed Boris Johnson's big speech because he was stuck in his home country

Crosby is a veteran of four election victories for ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard, but his last campaign was mired in controversy. A false allegation that asylum-seekers on board a refugee ship had tried to blackmail their way into the country by throwing children overboard gave rise to John Howard's memorable campaign slogan: 'We decide who will come into this country.'

Crosby also ran Michael Howard's dismal 2005 election campaign in which the Tories flatlined at barely 32 per cent in the polls as Tony Blair secured an historic third successive victory.

And last year he was the architect of the campaign by Libertas, a body which opposes the Treaty of Rome, in the European elections.

It's worth noting that Libertas candidates opposed Tories during the campaign - although in the end it hardly mattered to David Cameron as Crosby did not exactly cover himself in glory. The Euro-sceptic party polled less than one per cent.

Still, Crosby did run Johnson's first successful tilt at the Mayoralty in 2008. So Johnson will be hoping Crosby can repeat the feat - if he ever gets into the country again.

Sir Humphrey delivers a rocket

Cabinet battles over the future of the Trident nuclear deterrent are nothing new.

In an epic episode of Yes, Prime Minister back in 1986 it was Sir Humphrey Appleby, the infuriating Cabinet Secretary played by Nigel Hawthorne, who waxed lyrical about the weapon.

'If you walked into a nuclear missile showroom you would buy Trident - it's lovely, it's elegant, it's beautiful. It is quite simply the best. and Britain should have the best.

'In the world of the nuclear missile it is the Savile Row suit, the Rolls-Royce Corniche, the Chateau Lafite 1 45. It is the nuclear missile Harrods would sell you.'

As we know, the Lib Dems, who oppose Trident, don't shop in Savile Row or Harrods.

Going off message

Boris Johnson, speaking to hundreds of activists at the ConservativeHome rally, said of the Lib Dems: 'They are our partners and friends. But someone should tell the Lib Dems the people who really want to cut spending in London are Danny Alexander [the Lib Dem Chief secretary] and Nick Clegg. They need to be told, now they are in government, to stop cutting our money.'

As a schoolboy, Ed Miliband, unlike his nerdy older brother, used to leave his parents' dinner table when Marxist discussions were on the menu to watch Sue Ellen, Bobby and J.R. Ewing in Dallas.

Bobby and JR: Models for the Milibands?

A reader points out that the plot revolved a round a power struggle between an older and younger brother over who would run the family business.

Sound familiar?

Don't bank on the IMF, George

When he made his conference speech yesterday George Osborne, the Chancellor, could not resist a smug reference to the fact that the International Monetary Fund embraced his public deficit reduction plan.

Is this the same IMF which in April 2006, the year before the financial col lapse, suggested our banks would enjoy a rosy future?

'Dispersion of credit risks by banks to a broader and more diverse group of investors, rather than warehousing such a risk on their balance sheets has helped to make the banking and financial system more resilient,' they said.

'Consequently, the commercial banks may be less vulnerable to credit or economic shocks.'

Food for thought

In the 34 years since Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister Labour has had seven leaders including Ed Miliband.

Only one has won a general election and he is Tony Blair - the man the party now despises.

When was the Winter of our Discontent?

Gavin Barwell, the newly elected Tory MP for Croydon Central, was asked on the ConservativeHome website to describe his first political memory.

'Doing my homework under candlelight during the Winter of Discontent,' he said.

I, too, recall doing my homework by candlelight, but that was during the Three Day Week, not the Winter of Discontent.

And it was in 1973, when Barwell was two years old. The Winter of Discontent, when binmen and gravediggers were on strike, was in 1978/9.